


Silhouettes

by hibiren



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Anxiety, Best Friends, Cameras, Cape Caem (Final Fantasy XV), Crying, Dreams vs. Reality, Emotional, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotions, Feels, Friendship, Gen, Love, M/M, One Shot, Pictures, Prompto Argentum Needs a Hug, Sad with a Happy Ending, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-12
Updated: 2020-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:20:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23119117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hibiren/pseuds/hibiren
Summary: All Prompto can see is the backs of his friends as they leave him behind. He knows something is wrong but he just can't put his finger on what, or why, because there'ssomethingin the way...
Relationships: Gladiolus Amicitia & Prompto Argentum & Noctis Lucis Caelum & Ignis Scientia, Prompto Argentum/Noctis Lucis Caelum
Comments: 2
Kudos: 56





	Silhouettes

**Author's Note:**

> For some reason a particular image of Prompto hit me really hard while I was at work yesterday and I really wanted to write it out since I found some time. I hope you enjoy the feels! It's been a while since I've posted any promptis lol. But I've got SO MUCH in my drafts I hope I can get to soon! There's also some faeverse stuff in the works but I have to wait just a while longer to share it ;3

Like any other day, Prompto walked beside his friends. They chatted, shared stories, joked around and laughed as they walked until the conversation dulled to a hum and Prompto realized that for some reason the other three had started walking several feet in front of him rather than keeping pace. And they were getting farther away.

Prompto ran, reached out for their backs, but the hem of Noctis’ jacket just slipped from his reach. Instead his fingers met a solid wall of _something._ Something like glass. Cold, solid, yet invisible. He could no longer hear his friends talking. They kept walking. As if nothing was wrong. Smiling and bantering with each other as if Prompto never existed.

_Was this what it was like for them, before I showed up?_

_Maybe… this was the way it was supposed to be._

_They’re better off without me._

All these thoughts rang out in the space between Prompto and the invisible barrier that he slammed his closed fist against. The jolt reverberated painfully back, spreading up his arm and jarring like he’d tackled it full force with his whole body. Leaving him with an unsettling numbness in his bones that sung of something wrong.

His friends were even farther away now. He could hardly see their backs as they disappeared and blended against the faint line of the horizon. How had they walked so far so quickly?

There was only one thing he could do now.

Shakily, he pulled his camera off from around his neck and aimed at the three distant shapes, zooming in as much as his lens would allow before snapping a single picture. He’d have to wait for it to print, if it would print at all. It was hard to see through the viewfinder when his vision blurred with tears.

By the time the picture printed, it didn’t matter. Prompto sat with his back against the barrier hugging his knees to his chest and resting his head against them. The fabric of his jeans quickly soaked through with tears as he tried and failed to hold himself back from sobbing. He hoped the tight feeling in his chest was just the way he was sitting and not his own fear bubbling up inside him.

_They left me behind. They really forgot about me._

_Noct forgot about me. After everything, I thought…_

_I guess I just… wasn’t good enough for him. He deserves better than me._

Was Prompto really so focused on getting the Prince’s attention that he completely forgot that Noctis just didn’t have the time for him? Prompto was so in love with him it was blinding. And maybe that was a mistake. He’d been too much of a coward to say something. But now it didn’t matter.

Noctis was gone. They all were. When Prompto turned just to hope to catch a glimpse of them in the distance, there was nothing. It was like they disappeared and left him alone, staring off into nothing.

“...Prompto?”

“Hey… Prompto. Dude, you okay?”

Prompto didn’t even register the sound of Noctis’ voice at first. But eventually, slowly, he turned his head to find none other than the Prince himself standing right next to him. He stood some distance away from the house at Cape Caem, a gentle breeze blowing every now and then. It was an uncharacteristically beautiful day. Prompto was standing, staring blankly at the horizon with the sounds of the ocean behind him crashing distantly on the rocks below, and he clutched his camera in a near-breaking grip as if he’d seen a ghost.

Maybe he _had_ seen a ghost.

When Prompto didn’t respond, Noctis tried again.

“You okay? You said you were gonna go out to take pictures an hour ago but you’ve just been standing there the whole time.”

Prompto shrugged. “I… I dunno. I’ll be okay, though, don’t worry about me.”

“It’s a little late for that,” Noctis mumbled, and Prompto turned to finally meet Noctis’ eyes.

His hand was outstretched as if to touch Prompto’s arm, but he held back as if waiting for Prompto to approach. For a moment Prompto feared that this invisible wall was still there and _taunting him_ like it had evolved to show him his friend’s face just to rub in the fact that he was alone.

Slowly, Prompto peeled one hand off of his camera and reached out for Noctis. There was no cold, unseeable glass in the way, and their hands closed around each other. The Prince’s hand was so warm. Prompto frowned when Noctis made an unpleasant face, and moved to pull his hand away.

Noctis just squeezed Prompto’s hand tighter.

“Your hand’s so cold! Let’s get you inside. C’mon,” Noctis urged, but Prompto’s feet were frozen in place.

“I… I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“I just… I think I just saw something I shouldn’t have. But I’ll… I’ll be…” Prompto couldn’t even finish the sentence. His shoulders shook too much to pass off as shivering; the same could be said for the tears welling up in his eyes. It was too late to turn his head away and hide it.

“Here. Come here,” Noctis whispered, gently pulling Prompto closer, back toward the Cape house. “Whatever you saw, I’ll keep you safe from it. Alright? No one’s gonna hurt you.”

Prompto just couldn’t look at him, and a single tear slipped free.

“Hey. Prompto. Prompto, look at me, okay? Please,” the Prince gently urged, using the hand not holding Prompto’s to cup his chin and wipe the tear away with his thumb.

Slowly, eventually, Prompto met eyes with Noctis.

“I’ll keep you safe. I promise.”

“You won’t… forget about me?”

“Not in a million years.”

Just then, Gladio and Ignis came up the walkway each holding a bag of what must have been groceries in their hands. Each gave the two a warm smile as they approached, and Prompto did his best to wipe the tears from his eyes and look like nothing was wrong, even giving a smile back.

“H-hey, guys,” Prompto said, hoping the weak faltering in his voice would just pass off as a wind-chilled shudder.

“Ah, Prompto. Once we get these bags inside, would you join me in the garden later? I’ve bought all the ingredients for tonight’s dinner and was hoping you’d help me pick the rest from the garden. There’s truly nothing fresher and more rewarding than a hand-picked meal.” Ignis’ voice was calm, pleasant… and Prompto had actually been invited to do something…

“Uh… sure! Y-yeah. I can help. No problem, Iggy!”

He hoped the smile he managed now was convincing enough.

“Hey, what about me?” Gladio chimed in, “You were supposed to let me ask for company on my nightly run first.”

“Nope, I’m out, sorry,” Noctis groaned, but smirked as he rolled his eyes.

Gladio smirked back and returned an equally dramatic eye roll in the Prince’s direction. “I was asking _Prompto,_ not you.”

“You… want me to run with you?”

“Yeah! If we start early enough - I guess after you help Iggy in the garden - by the time we get back dinner should be ready. And I can show you this great place I found yesterday. I bet you can get some awesome pictures of the sunset too. Noticed it looks like you’ve been taking some pictures already! Thought I’d let you use up some more film.”

Gladio, too, had wanted to include him in something. Then why, _what_ was it that he’d seen?

“Sure, I’ll go! Just give me a minute to get changed.”

The four walked back to the house and Prompto found himself a little too attentive to his place among the other three, but not for a moment did any one of them let him slip behind. Noctis kept his hand in Prompto’s and gave him a squeeze every now and then as they walked. It was nice. Like something had happened between them that changed the air ever so slightly…

It was as Prompto was changing into his workout clothes up in the bedroom that he’d noticed the top of a picture sticking out of the printer on his camera. When he pulled it free, he realized it was fully developed. Or, it was supposed to have been. He wasn’t sure how long it had been sitting there in his camera without his realizing it. Maybe that was what Gladio had meant about him having taken pictures already.

Inside the frame was a picture of that distant horizon, three dark silhouettes disappearing against the background, but there was some kind of lens flare effect that blurred the picture into almost unrecognizable quality. It was that strange wall. It had to have been.

As Prompto looked closer, squinting, he saw a thin series of graying lines etched against the flare just over Noctis’ shoulder, like the fragmented beginnings of shattered glass. It seemed in the end, he’d won. He’d won because that wall had been proven wrong. And he would do his best to make sure that it was always proven wrong. He loved his friends, his Prince especially, too much to let anything - invisible or not - get in the way. Maybe one day he’d find the courage to actually speak up about his feelings, but finding small ways to spend time with Noctis between their busy lives would have to do, for now.

**Author's Note:**

> The image I'd had stuck in my head yesterday was Prompto stuck behind a glass wall, shouting for his friends but they just don't see him/hear him/keep walking away, and it made me wonder what would happen if something like that had happened between the four of them, if it would have been real, or a dream, or some mix of both... hmm....
> 
> but I stand by that tag - Prompto Argentum Needs a Hug!!


End file.
